Giving All
by Amorous-Thunder
Summary: Chase develops a crush on the mayor's son, Gill. Now he's trying to win him over by using his expertise cooking skills. But maybe Gill isn't into such a homosexual relationship, after all... GillxChase. Just give the story a try; I'm begging you.
1. Chapter 1

***Please skip this if you don't want to hear me ramble on about nonsensical things!**

**So... Is there anyone who still likes Gill and Chase as a pairing? Here's a yaoi fanfic about them. I've been waiting years to write about them, but I was just never brave enough to do it. So here it is.**

**Chase is the uke in this relationship. I felt the need to tell you that because people can be quite picky at times... I'm sick of so many fanfics having Gill to be the uke! Arrrgh! (I mean, Chase has the ukey eyes, am I right?)**

**Oh yeah, and I like to pretend that Chase is shorter than Gill - just because I'm making him the uke and all... But you don't have to pretend if you don't want to! It's your choice! o_o;;**

**And I've never really noticed it until now, but both Gill and Chase have really mean personalities in the game. Especially Chase, so... I'm gonna keep it that way, although it will be a bit of a challenge to get them to do extremely cute things while writing this... So it might kinda suck at first - but please bear with me!**

**So... Without further ado, I present to you... A GillxChase yaoi. My favorite Harvest Moon pairing, too, might I add.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon.**

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Giving All

_Chapter One_

It was getting late. Really late.

When Chase sunk his hands into the soapy water to feel around for another dish, he nicked his finger on a knife and winced at the pain. He drew his finger to his tongue, hoping to relieve the cut, but he did no more than taste the metallic taste of his own blood.

There was an uproar made at the Inn this afternoon. The story of a new customer brought about much havoc and attention, but Chase was the only one to keep cool about it all, mostly due to the fact that he hadn't a clue just _who_ the customer was. Yolanda and the others just briefly and lightly touched the surface of the topic to him. And apparently, the new customer was a very special person, indeed. Everybody was so worked-up just talking about him. They treated him like a god and as though he were meant to be the overall judge of the restaurant. And with Chase now having worked at the Inn for merely two days, the talk of this new customer only put further emphasis on his ignorant-based knowledge pertaining to the town...

He only came to the town to sharpen his culinary skills, but it seemed that now he had to deal with the critique of a _new customer_ as well... Whatever. He wasn't complaining. He was fine with any type of critic testing his food. After all, his food, in his most humble opinion, wasn't bad at all, but rather decent.

The new customer was suppose to be at the Inn at four o' clock this afternoon... He was _suppose_ to. Chase and the others didn't really know what happened to him and why. But they didn't think much of it, nor dwell that much on it, for that matter... If the new customer wasn't going to show, why give a crap? Let it be. Leave it be. That was the best way Chase and the others felt they could deal with the situation: like it really didn't matter at all. Although... The customer was _thought_ to be such an exceptional, all-important guest...

In fifteen minutes, it was time to close up the bar. Yolanda left Chase in charge of this matter because she knew she could trust him with the job. Already she deemed him worthy of handling it, despite his working there for only two days... And besides that, she wanted to leave by nine o' clock, anyway.

There was still a little tidying left to be done. So, Chase went about that as he switched into another room; but just before he did, something had caught his eye. The realization of a person sitting at one table to himself instantly distracted him as he gave no more than a fraction of a glance to him. He didn't care who in the hell it was... It was probably just some retarded bastard who couldn't read the closing hours worth a shit, was all he could figure...

Chase put several dishes away when he returned to the kitchen. He didn't bother to look at the man... Or woman, perhaps? "I'm sorry, but the bar's about to close up any minute. I'm going to have to ask you to leave...," he told the man with his back turned on him. Hopefully the man would just get the hell out and stay out...

The man didn't reply for the longest of time. He just traced his eyes over a menu that he found laying on the one table he was sitting at. He was acting like he was about to get served or something...

Like hell he was about to get served.

"... Do you have tomato juice?" He asked, lacking hardly any emotion in his voice.

Chase closed the cupboard, sighing - obviously fed-up by this point. "I said the bar's about to-"

"I know. And I don't care."

"... Eh?" Chase turned his head around to look at him, appointing a mixture of exhaustion, boredom, and slight confusion at him. As far as Chase could make out, the person was, indeed, a man after all.

The man yawned. His eyes looked heavy. He gave the impression of being tired as well. "Now I'll ask again. Do you have tomato juice?"

What? The _nerve_ of this guy... Fine, whatever, Chase will get him some damn tomato juice... Chase was mature enough to handle this without arguing back. So he lethargically poured some tomato juice in a glass and set it down before the man at the table. He stared at the man and crossed his arms, retaining his bored-like expression. "That's a pretty unusual drink to be ordering this late at night. Normal customers around this time will order alcohol or wine. I can dose it up a bit, if you'd like."

Dose up a glass of tomato juice? Chase figuratively cringed at the thought. But, as he knew, some people actually preferred drinks that way...

The man leaned his elbow on the table and rested his cheek in the palm of his hand. "No thank you. It's fine," he answered as he took a swig at the tomato juice. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, and he was dressed in some rather formal attire. But other than that, Chase didn't note much on his appearance. He didn't really care and plus he was already insanely tired enough...

With that said and done, Chase began his leave. He still had some more dishes to put away... But he stopped when the man started to talk again.

The man said: "It's pretty unusual that a bar would close this early in the evening. A bar closing so early can't be good for the customers. I just might have to record such an observation..."

"An observation?" Chase repeated. He thought. It was true that he didn't hear that much about the new customer, but he thought that maybe the person right here and now could be that very same customer Yolanda and the others were talking about earlier. And it was true that he didn't hear that much about the customer otherwise, but he swore to it that he heard that the customer was the son of the mayor of this town. Well, it was reasonable enough to assume since the man behind him did clothe himself properly like some sort of rich gentleman. So Chase then, at last, turned to the man with widening eyes and said, "Oh. Are you the mayor's son, by any chance?"

"Huh?" The man slouched in his chair, looking very sluggish. He stared at Chase with penetrating blue eyes. The cold, blue eyes were enough to intimidate a shark. "What's it to you?"

"Well... You were suppose to come earlier this afternoon and try our food." Chase crossed his arms again. He didn't give a damn that the man emitted some sort of distant vibe. Chase was just as distant, and the man's eyes weren't really that intimidating to him at all. "You're late."

"Just be happy I even came at all..." The man sipped his drink again. He neglected to look Chase in the eye. "I don't enjoy going out of my way to try new things that I know are doomed for failure..."

"Uh-huh... You some sort of critic or what? You don't have to come and eat here if you don't want to..."

"I know that. But if I'm ever to become mayor of this town, I need to make this island prosperous. And in doing so, this island needs the best it can get."

"Well, I can assure you... The food here is the best you're _going_ to get," Chase told, poking the end of a pen on a pad of paper that he now held so that the pen was now able to write - not looking at the pen nor the pad of paper as he did so. He just gazed at the customer with a boring gaze, growing tired of their conversation already. "Your order?"

The man looked at the menu momentarily before putting it down and setting it aside. "I think tomato soup will do just nicely right about now..."

_'Tomato soup? What's with him and tomatoes...?'_ Chase thought.

Chase wrote down his order by first continuing his tiring stare. "... Anything else?"

"No, that will do it. Thank you." The man sipped his tomato juice.

Chase thus returned to the kitchen to cook the soup, and eventually brought it out once it was finished. He set it before the man at the table, abiding by his demands. If it wasn't obvious to tell already: Chase completely despised the man. But it was like Yolanda had said before: "Serve each guest despite the circumstances." Yolanda was planning to make this restaurant a huge hit. However, Chase didn't necessarily agree to her plans... Nonetheless, he accepted his tutor's intent.

"Try to hurry up and eat, will you? I have to close the place up and already you're becoming a nuisance..."

Chase started to leave.

"I hear you've come to study culinary arts here on the island. Is Yolanda tutoring you?" The man called from behind.

Chase didn't turn. Instead, he glanced at him dryly through the corner of his eye. "Yeah, that's right."

"... Sit down."

Chase sat across from him at the table. He somewhat hunched over due to fatigue.

"Yolanda is a very good chef," the blue-eyed one said. "I'm glad she finally decided to open up her own restaurant here on the island..."

Chase watched the clock on the wall behind him. It was eight minutes past the Inn's closing hours: eleven thirty-eight. He tuned out everything but the time.

The man drew a napkin to his lips after tasting the soup. "This is delicious," he said with a charming smile. His eyes shut in sheer content for the taste. The soup had relaxed him so and brought him to ease... That charming smile of his grabbed at Chase's attention, and soon, he was staring at it - mesmerized. A faint blush made itself apparent on his cheeks. The man's smile had its way of enticing women... But did it have a way of charming guys, too? Chase made it seem so... And the man _was_ known to be a lady-killer, but was he known to charm a man, too?

Snapping Chase out of his dream, the man suddenly spoke up and asked, "How much?"

"... Huh?"

"The bill."

"Oh, um... The soup was 3.25, and the juice was 2.50, so..."

Goddess, Chase couldn't think straight. And it wasn't because he was tired, either - that was the bad thing...

"5.75?" The man did the math for him, and shortly after he did, Chase felt incredibly stupid.

"... Yeah..." Chase nodded.

The man smiled that charming smile again and stood from his seat. "Hm... Just put it on my tab."

Chase's eyebrow twitched at his remark. _What?_ "... We don't do tabs here..."

_'Just who does he think he is?'_

"That's fine. You can start now," the man returned. He came before Chase and took hold of his chin, tilting it upwards in his direction. "And here's your tip," he added, and soon, his lips met with that of Chase's own in little hesitance.

What in fuck's name-?

The man's lips were so tender and so sweet and so very... So very...

Oh my goddess, HE'S A FREAKING DUDE!

Chase pulled away instinctively and damn-near fell out of his chair after having backed up so far. "Ah, what the hell!" He yelled. He managed to get a grip on the man's shirt before he had completely fallen back and now he had his head resting on the man's chest, panting in his distress. "Wh-What the hell was that!" He screamed very childishly - having his heart about to explode in his chest. It was blatantly obvious what just happened, so he sounded pretty damn stupid for having asked what it was.

A man just kissed him. Literally - a man just _actually_ kissed him. How did that end up to be, exactly?

"I believe it was a kiss," the man replied bluntly. He proved Chase's stupidity all the more. He raised his hand for a farewell. "Well, see you. Thanks for the food." He started to leave.

Chase had never been more alarmed in all his life - nor did he ever let his distress show so much until now. He had never been so worked-up and he had always been the type to maintain his cool... _Until now._

He shot up from his seat and slammed both his hands on the table. "What! You can't just leave like that! Get back here! You gotta pay for your food, dammit!"

"Nah, I don't really feel like it..." The man looked back at him by turning just a head. His blue eyes pierced through Chase at once. "Oh yeah, and if I were you... I'd lose the pins in the hair... You look more like a waitress than you do a waiter..."

"What! Whaaaaat! What did you just say!"

"Bye now."

He left.

Silence flooded the room. It flooded the whole Inn, actually.

The pins in Chase's hair looked girly...?

Chase went to barely touch the pins in his hair, running his fingers across them. His face flushed a bright red.

Well, it was time to close up the Inn...

Damn that guy... Just who the hell does he think his is, anyway? He has no right to-...

Wait. Who was that guy - really?

Chase hadn't really thought about it until now, but he had never asked the gentleman his name.

Well, who cares, right? Chase didn't want to know nor did he care to know.

When Chase finally got around to closing up the Inn, it was twelve o' clock sharp. And one would think that once he got home, he would inevitably crash, but in fact... He did just the opposite. He was restless. He stayed up until three o' clock in the morning just daydreaming of that man he met at the Inn... He just couldn't get him out of his head. Not after the man had kissed him - certainly not then... And he wondered just what he should do to go about this particular predicament...

He tossed and turned in his bed. Shoving a pillow upon his face, he exhaled.

Oh my goddess... He had a crush. On a man. The mayor's son, to be exact...

Was this a bad thing?

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**Review if you want me to continue! XD**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, guys. It's been a while, am I right? I just wanted to let you guys know that this story takes place in Tree of Tranquility, rather than Animal Parade. I just thought I'd let you all know that since... I shamefully forgot to mention it in the last chapter.**

**And so... Chapter two has been updated. **

**What? You're asking why it took so long? No, wait, I can expl-**

**Reader: *spears me in the face***

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_Chapter Two_

He had been bedridden for several days now.

Well, he wasn't _exactly_ bedridden, but it seemed just so by the way he slept as stiff-like as he did. It was as if he had been sleeping in the same bed for months on end now. He looked like a new mother who had only given birth moments before, and was now laying in a hospital bed, coming into and out of sleep - too restless to wait on the delivery of her newborn child... It was pretty funny, despite him being as miserable as could be.

And it was all thanks to that man he had encountered at the Inn not too long ago. No, he wasn't feeling this way because the man had neglected to pay for his food - _oh no_. It was because of something _far_ more worse - something that Chase had never thought would happen in all his life... What Chase had to realize and eventually come to terms with was this:

... He was in love with that man.

Okay, well, maybe he wasn't precisely "in love" with him, but he sure as hell was attracted to him. It was more like a "crush," if one will. Chase had never had a crush on anybody before, let alone a man. It was most definitely a huge ordeal. And he certainly had never toyed with the thought of doing so...

He bundled himself in layers upon layers of sheets in bed, compressing himself down into the warmth and comfort of it all - like it was the middle of freaking winter or something... It was, in fact, quite the opposite. It was summer.

He groaned softly, tossing in his bed. That was when he saw someone sitting in one chair next to him. It was Maya. She looked ravenous as she shoveled in huge heaps of muffin into her mouth at one time, having her back partially turned on him.

_What the hell was she doing here for?_

Maya was a girl who had come to work at that Inn not long after Chase had started doing the same. And already, Chase didn't think too fondly of her. But Chase never thought too fondly of most people, anyway...

Chase mustered the best glare he could manage after having just woken up. He looked more tired than he did annoyed, though. "What are you doing?"

Maya jumped a bit, probably because Chase's voice had startled her so. She twisted in her seat to bashfully wave at him with her mouth full, looking as dopey as ever. She was embarrassed. "Oh, good morning, Chase."

Disregarding her comment, perhaps to even seem rude, Chase forced himself up in bed, yawned, and rubbed the back of his head while running a hand through his messy, orange-tinted, blonde hair.

Maya smiled at his groggy behavior and chirped, "You fell asleep at the Inn again, didn't you?"

Goddess, she was so stupid. She just stated the obvious. Of course Chase fell asleep at the Inn. He _just_ woke up at the Inn, didn't he? However, as Chase had soon come to notice, this sort of stupidity was averagely expressed from the slow, ditsy girl...

Chase was finally able to gather enough strength to push himself from the bed and was thus able to make his way over to a mirror that sat atop a dresser. "What makes you think that?" He retorted dryly as he fussed with his hair, attempting to make himself look semi-presentable for the day. He placed two pins in his hair, crisscrossing them in a stylish manner. Fascinatingly enough, he slept in his clothes. And even more strangely, he didn't give a damn if he wore the same clothes two days in a row... In fact, such a thought didn't even cross his mind.

"Because I found you in here, asleep," Maya answered, at last.

Chase smoothed out the wrinkles in his shirt. "Ah, good observation..."

Was he being sarcastic? _No._ Certainly not _him._ Certainly not Chase.

"You wanna know what I think?" Maya persisted.

"Not really."

"I think you've developed a crush on someone." She stood now, brushing the crumbs of muffin from her dress. But... She still looked dorky because she still wore some crumbs on her face. "You wanna know who I think it is?"

Chase had a crush on someone? Where did Maya pull that conclusion from? For once, she actually sounded astute... _How strange._ Nonetheless, Chase wasn't the least bit alarmed. He turned and gazed at her tiredly. "'Develop' is a pretty big word for you. Are you sure you're using it properly?"

A dash of red ran across Maya's face as she puffed her cheeks out like a blow fish. Her eyebrows narrowed in such a way to express her anger. "O-Of course I'm using it properly!" And then... As to almost seem to question herself, she put a finger to her lip and glanced upwards at the ceiling, applying a great deal of pause to the conversation. "At least I think so..." That same bashful smile came to her face again as she looked to Chase once more. "What does 'properly' mean again?" She halfway chuckled on her own embarrassment. To this, Chase sighed, walking out of the room and to soon be walking down a few steps that led to the main room of the Inn. "You're utterly hopeless, aren't you...?" He told her before making it to the steps.

Maya almost tripped in her attempt to catch up to Chase. "Uh... W-Wait! Chase!" She followed directly behind him now. "Colleen told me that Gill ended up coming to the Inn a few nights ago..."

"Gill? Who's Gill?"

But before Maya could say anything else, Chase turned on his heels and, oddly enough, went back into the bedroom. He stood before the mirror again, taking the pins from his hair. Ever since that mysterious man had said, "You look more like a waitress than you do a waiter," Chase had been tampering with the thought of just how to dress himself. Should he leave the pins in his hair or take them out? Did they seriously make him look... That _girly?_

Well, Chase only wore the pins to keep his hair out of his face, so... It was okay, right?

... _Right?_

Oh goddess, had he become self-conscious?

Maya had, as expected, followed him back into the bedroom. "Gill's the mayor's son. Didn't you...-" She was surprised to have witnessed him return to the bedroom, but was even more surprised to see the reflection of him removing the pins from his hair in the mirror. She blinked. "Why are you taking the pins out of your hair?"

Maybe if he didn't crisscross them, they would...

_What?_

He dropped the pins from his fingers and stared blankly into the mirror. His purple eyes widened in arousing curiosity. The pins clicked on the hard surface of the dresser.

_Gill is..._

Maya cocked her head to the side. "Um... Chase?"

Chase spun around and clung to Maya at once. He gripped her upper arms so firmly that it was a wonder why it didn't hurt her. He peered into her eyes - almost to squint at her. "Tell me, do you know where he lives?"

Maya looked clueless - ignorant, even. "Um, you mean Gill? Umm..." She tilted her head upwards along with her gaze, lost in thought. "I think he lives in that huge mansion all to himself... Or, no - wait - I think he lives with his father... Uhh... I'm not entirely sure..." She descended her gaze to Chase again. Her shy, pushed smile came back to her face once more as she held a finger up as if to justify a point. "But I know he lives in the biggest house in all of Waffle Town - if that helps any..." Was she even aware that Chase was acting so strange?

"That's all I need to know," Chase declared. He left Maya to herself as he rushed his way downstairs and to the front door of the Inn. And as he was running, he could here the beckoning voice of Maya from behind him, exclaiming, "Uh - Chase! Wait! I don't understand! Where are you going!" But he couldn't stop now. He had something very important to take care of. He was going to see this so-called Gill, and that was that.

"I'm going to go do something! Tell Yolanda and the others that I'm going to be out for a bit, will you?"

He swung open the door - ready to begin his hunt. But right before he could close the door behind him, he heard Maya call out, yet again - with this time actually being something of importance. She said, "But, Chase! It's six o' clock in the morning!" Proceeding after that was a huge thud, in which Chase had presumably believed it to have been her crashing down the steps - head first. Stupid girl.

Wait. Six o' clock in the morning?

His eyebrow twitched slightly at the remark.

The early signs of a new day were just beginning to take affect. The air was still cool from the night and the sky brought out it's lighter shades of blues. But the shades weren't quite light enough in comparison to the shades of blues in the middle of the day. These shades still had some darker hues to it. The sun hadn't even risen yet...

How could he have been that dense - to have actually believed that it was broad daylight rather than the midst of a breaking dawn!

Goddess, now he was beginning to act just like Maya... And that was the last thing he wanted to do...

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"The Town Hall isn't too far from here." That's what the mayor had said when Chase had last talked to him. Chase went to Gill's house (which was also the mayor's house, too, of course) around noon that day to see if Gill happened to be there, and to his very luck, he wasn't. Due to this, the mayor had told Chase that Gill was working at the Town Hall at this hour and that if Chase wanted, he could go meet with him there. However, what the mayor didn't seem to factor in was that there was an atrocious-looking weather brewing about outside at that particular moment. So what felt like hours was actually twenty-five minutes before Chase had arrived at the Town Hall...

The mayor (or Hamilton, as Chase soon came to know him by) was a cheery fellow with a round, plump belly, that in which case, Chase had found to be a relatively unattractive thing to stare at. It was a wonder how the all-beautiful Gill was the spon of such a being... And to top it off, Hamilton made Chase listen to him blabber on and on about matters that Chase could really care less for... Chase had to sit at the table with him for goddess only knows how long before it was safe enough to leave him without seeming too rude...

Lightening struck behind Chase as he opened the door to enter the Town Hall as thunder was heard crashing down in the far distance from him. He had on his most irritable of stares when he noticed a brown-haired girl sitting behind one counter in front of him. She looked like she just came from working at a hospital by the way that she was dressed - like she was meant to be some sort of nurse or something...

Chase was drenched from head to toe, and there was no mistaking that he was looking rather suspicious by the look of the sullen expression pasted on his face. He looked like he was about ready to cut someone's heart out and destroy it.

The girl's eyes grew small as a drop of sweat took shape on her head. She posed a friendly wave and smile at Chase as she greeted him. "Oh. Hello there. How may I help you?" She asked, hoping that Chase wouldn't pull some type of gun out and shoot her square in the face. She had never seen Chase in all her life, so how was she to know that he wasn't some sort of criminal, or even worse (if there's anything that's worse than a criminal, that is.)

Chase only frowned further, showing his discontentment ever more. "Gill. Does he work here?" He asked.

"He's right around the back. Just look," she almost pleaded as she bowed her head in her panic.

Chase took his steps to go around the counter and to then meet with the other half of the room - which consisted of various filing cabinets to an abundant amount of picture frames displayed on each wall.

And then there was a desk, too. A desk in which was occupied by a man seated at it, working on whatever it was that he was working on. It was the man Chase had met at the Inn those few nights ago. It was Gill.

_Ah, at last..._

Chase put his hands down on the desk across from Gill and glowered directly at him. "Gill - is it?" He muttered.

Gill lifted his head from his work and recognized the purple-eyed one (Chase) at once. "Oh. You're the waiter who waited on me at the Inn."

"Yeah, and I want my damn money, too."

The "money" wasn't the _real_ reason Chase came here, but it was a likely enough excuse to sound like it was. But even so... Chase still wasn't completely sure _why_ he wanted to see Gill in the first place.

Gill tried to play it dumb, messing with Chase. "Money? What ever do you mean?"

"Don't give me that bullshit. You know what I mean. That money you never gave me for the food! I expect you to pay me back in full, you know!"

Chase wanted a mere five dollars and seventy-five cents back? That... Was a very petty thing to care about, wasn't it?

Gill gathered a wad of papers in his hands and stacked them together, and then pounded the edges of them on the desk. That same charming smile that Chase had witnessed before rose to his face again - with it being just as pretty as Chase could remember it to be. "Oh, so that one little tip wasn't enough, I see...," Gill said.

"Tip?" Chase pondered the thought out loud. "What tip?"

_'He didn't give me no damn tip...,'_ Chase thought.

Gill stood up and began putting several books away behind himself on a shelf. "You and I both know that the _real_ reason you came here wasn't for the money... It was for another kiss."

The brown-haired girl at the counter immediately perked up to Gill's remark as she sat there, wide-eyed. She snooped her way into the conversation by bending back in her chair as to see both of them behind her - upside-down. She eavesdropped (not like she wasn't already...)

Chase blushed immensely. "What! That's ridiculous!" He told Gill.

"Oh, is that so?" Gill questioned. He came before Chase to gently raise his chin, making him gaze into his icy blue eyes. He drew his lips to Chase's own - only to keep a mere distance of an inch apart from them. "... Do you wanna bet?" He almost whispered. Chase could feel his warm, enticing breath press against his lips as his mind slowly began to shut down and go blank. He became paralyzed.

"I... I... Uh... Uhmmm..."

Gill could see the response that he had been intending for. An even brighter red had come to Chase's face now. Gill then decided to pull away, being satisfied with the outcome. "Hm... You're too easy...," he mocked. He gave money to Chase in which he had taken from his pocket. "Here. There's your money. No need to thank me." He started to walk off.

Chase peered down at the money he now held in his hands. It was a fifty dollar bill.

Fifty dollars?

"Huh? But this is..."

"If you're satisfied, then leave. I have other things to take care of..."

Gill went up the steps. Chase ran after him.

"B-But this is too much! Are you sure you want to give me this much?"

Without turning even a head, Gill continued up the steps and said, "Money doesn't mean a thing to me... If you want more, just say so."

"Huh? Oh no, that's not what I was implying at all!"

"I didn't say that that was what you were implying..."

They made it to the top of the steps. Chase was the last one to stop as he soon saw Gill walk over to a bookcase and pull a book from its shelf. He opened the book and began to read. Chase was standing there, not wanting to move as he just simply stared at the other man reading from across the room. He wanted to go - he wanted so badly to go - but for some reason, he couldn't, and he wasn't sure why. Was he honestly _that_ attracted to the man? Was he honestly _that_ attracted to Gill?

After a few moments, Gill glanced over to notice him still there. He kept a cool, calm expression on his face. His eyes remained relaxed. "... What happened to your pins?"

Chase shifted awkwardly. "M-My pins?"

"Yeah, the kind that you were wearing in your hair that one night at the Inn... Why'd you take them out?"

Embarrassed, Chase put a hand to the portion of his hair that lacked the pins in which he usually put there, concealing it from Gill's view. He was glowering at Gill again with another blush (that he noticed he typically did whenever he was around him...) "Th-That's none of your business."

Gill turned a page in his book, drawing his attention back to it. "You shouldn't have taken them out. They looked cute on you."

_They looked cute on him?_

Of course, Chase only glared and blushed more. "Huh? But you said-"

"I know, but that doesn't necessarily mean I don't like them on you."

"Huh...? Wha...?"

Chase was confused and lost.

Gill walked passed him and to the steps, lastly saying, "I appreciate you trying to impress me... But I'm not interested in dating other men..."

"Wh-What! B-But you said...! Y-You're not even making any sense! Do you like me or not! Just answer me!"

Elli (the brown-haired girl) was standing there right before the top of the steps, peeking over one wall at Chase like he was some sort of madman.

Chase covered his mouth because he couldn't believe what he had just said. Did he seriously ask Gill if he liked him? Oh my goddess, now it was blatantly obvious that he liked him now... Now Chase thought twice about going home and attempting suicide (but, of course, that would get him nowhere, wouldn't it?) He heard Gill putting his last input in (and this time, it really was the last.) He said, "I don't know. I guess you'll just have to figure that out by yourself, now won't you?" And he said that at the bottom of the steps, too.

Elli waited only a little while longer, staring at Chase, before she fled to catch up to Gill.

That night, while Chase was preparing the last dish of food... He had put way too many spices on one plate, and he blamed it all on Gill for giving him such a hard time.

"Damn him for embarrassing me like that!" Chase said to himself, alone in the kitchen. He was taking all his anger and frustration out on the food.

Needless to say, when the customer had finally got his meal (after more than twenty minutes of waiting time) he immediately went to throw it up in the bathroom. Kathy was the only one to notice this (because she was the one who had served the guy his meal) and was therefore to grow concerned for Chase. She knew that typically Chase's dishes were the best of the best, so she couldn't imagine anyone hurling any of his dishes up. Nevertheless, that thought was pushed aside for the night...

And... Chase was still in the kitchen long after Kathy had left the Inn, _still_ questioning Gill's mixed signals.

* * *

**God, my eyes feel like they're on fire...**

**Yes, I had the... No, I don't even want to say that god awful word. Must... Censor... It. **

**Wr*ter's Bl*ck. (Thankfully for me, it usually goes away after a few weeks or so...)**

**So... If you will, would you please leave a review? I actually worked really hard on this chapter... I tried to be more descriptive in my writing, but alas, I have failed. (What's new?)**

**... Have you guys ever walked into Gill's room on Animal Parade and notice something very disturbing? Yes, I believe he has some crazy porn laying on his chair if you take out your camera to zoom up on it. His chair is in front of the door when you walk in on the opposite side of his room. If you haven't seen this, you need to check it out... I truly think Gill is trying to hide something here. lol**

**So please review! If you do, I'll love you with an undying love! And I might be able to update sooner, too! :3**


	3. Chapter 3

**Jeez, I'm sorry, guys. I haven't updated this in sooooo long. I'm so sorry to keep you all waiting... ;_;**

**Like this story, I hope to have "What's Left to Remember" updated pretty soon, too. So... If ya guys are also reading that (which I think some of you are... Maybe?), then you can expect that to be coming up here shortly. I'm not _exactly_ sure when, though...**

** You can never tell with me... Sometimes I'll go through periods of frequent updates while other times I just get flat-out lazy... I hate admitting it, but I know it's true.**

* * *

_Chapter Three_

"Elli."

Just when Elli was near to filling the empty slot with the final book, Gill's abrupt voice had startled her into dropping it. She stood there before the bookcase - petrified for a second or two before she whipped around with some sort of uneasy smile spread across her face. "Oh. Gill. I didn't even see you there. Eheheheh..." A droplet of sweat rolled down her left temple. She was obviously disturbed and rather uncomfortable to have encountered Gill so abruptly.

"Did you finish the paperwork?"

"Oh. Yes. Y-Yes I did."

"... Well? Can I see it?"

"Ah! Yes! Y-Yes, of course!"

She scrambled over to her desk, proceeding to pick up papers and others materials alike, tossing each and every object she found over her shoulder. "I-Its gotta be around here somewhere... Uh..." She paused, now visually searching for whatever she was searching for instead. "N-Now where did it go?" She tossed her head from side to side in a frantic frenzy, purposely avoiding any sort of eye-contact with Gill.

Although it may not have seemed apparent, there was a reason why she wasn't looking Gill properly in the face... Yesterday, she had just _almost_ witnessed two boys closing in to kiss one another. It wouldn't have been nearly as bad if she hadn't known either of the two boys - _but_ _she did. _One of them just so happened to be Gill - a co-worker of whom she had come to know and trust, and who was also coincidentally the very same person of whom she was currently speaking to. And now - every time Gill would get close to her, her heart would immediately pump into overdrive as she battled to cope with him. It wasn't that she thought what he was "doing" was wrong, it was just that she didn't know how to handle the situation...

Gill took a sip from a cup he held in his hand. "... Is there a problem?" He asked.

Rather than the typical coffee or tea, the sort of "morning" drink in which Gill was sipping at was tomato juice. Elli had figured the choice to be unusual, but had soon discovered that that sort of drink was what Gill drank nearly everyday. However, even with that said, she still considered it to be _abnormal_... Even to this day she didn't very much know why he preferred it.

Elli stood straight, answering his question with, "Uh - yes! I mean - no! No there's not! N-Not at all!"

Gill arched an eyebrow, finding her behavior to be rather suspicious. "That doesn't sound too convincing..."

"Errr..."

Elli sweated more and more.

_Dear goddess, what was she to say now?_

Suddenly, the phone rang. She immediately went to go and grab it. "Hello! This is the Town Hall! How may I help you?" She stopped and listened. "... Oh..." She held the phone away from her ear. "It's for you," she told Gill, handing him over the phone.

Gill put the phone to his ear. "Hello..." He sipped more of his tomato juice. A pause settled in. "... Luna?" His eyes traced over to the clock. Elli's followed. _Another pause._ "... I don't think now would be a good time..." He set his glace down on a nearby table.

A distraught, feminine voice complained on the other side of the phone: "Oh, you always say that! It's never a good time for you!"

Gill ran a hand though his hair. "I'm sorry; but I have to go..."

"Gill! Don't you dare hang up the phone! Do you hear me? Don't you dare do it!"

"Bye."

He hung up the phone.

_Silence._

"... Who was that?" Elli asked.

"My fiancee," Gill answered. "She wants to see me again."

"... So why don't you let her?"

Gill sighed. "You know how exhausting she can get... Besides, I have too much work to be doing. Dealing with her will only slow me down..."

"... I suppose so," Elli murmured. "... But... Gill?"

"Yeah?" Gill replied. He was beginning to busy himself with cleaning up the mess Elli had made. Papers were scattered about the floor, and the room was so defiled that it was almost impossible to see any part of the floor that surrounded Elli's desk...

"If she's such a bother...," Elli continued, "Then why are you even marrying her to begin with?"

"My father is always telling me to settle down and start a family of my own... I figure I may as well. It's what life expects from people, after all."

Elli looked down at her feet. "... So - then... You don't... Even love her?" She sounded pretty naive, standing there, like she was five years old again. She had always thought that if one were to marry, then he or she would solely do it for love itself. The act sounded so harmless and pure that it had to be true. It was at that moment that she almost sounded as if she believed in fairies and unicorns as well. She had always been brought up into believing such things - so it was no wonder when she put it to question. She was raised from a kind, loving, and nurturing family, and Gill knew that by merely observing her.

"She's likable, but I don't love her, no," Gill finally said.

She continued to stare. Her eyes remained focused on her feet. She only periodically blinked from time to time.

Gill had to admit that her innocence was in some way cute...

He smiled. "You shouldn't worry about it, though; people marry for the same reason all the time. It's not like it's anything new..." He had compiled a few books in his arms before he made his way to the steps. But before he could progress much further, Elli was quick to speak again. She weakly uttered, "Hey, um... Hey, Gill?"

He glanced over to her. "Yeah?"

"Oh - uhh... N-Never mind! Ahahaha...!" She said, rubbing the back of her head as another sweat droplet took form on her head.

He gave her a boring stare. "... You should probably get back to finding that paperwork that you seemingly lost, Elli... I strongly recommend it."

"Y-Yes! R-Right away, sir!" She began digging through desk drawers in a noticeable rush.

_Would she ever muster up the courage to ask him just what he was thinking the other day...?_

_Probably not..._

* * *

_Smack._

"Ouch!" Chase yelped. He retracted his hand from the notch at once. He _"was"_ planning to adjust the timer to a more suitable set time, but Yolanda had beaten him to it, swatting his right hand with a spatula.

_There was no way in hell she was going to have him change it_ _in the slightest..._

"What the hell was that for, you crazy, old lady!" Chase snapped, rubbing his injured hand in favor. It was stinging like a bitch.

"_That_ was for not paying attention. And _this,_" Yolanda hit the back of Chase's head with the same spatula, "Is for calling me a crazy, old lady," she scolded. "I told you to set the timer for three minutes, not for ten!"

The impact had caused Chase to lean over the counter, and now, he was rubbing at yet another new injury: his head. He could only glare at her, unable to throw back the usual insults he would ordinarily have in store for her. This time, his hurting-self was far more important to concern himself with - or so it had seemed...

Yolanda pointed her trusty spatula right in front of his face. A rigid look immediately composed her expression. "If you want me to continue lecturing you, young boy, then I suggest you listen. Food can be a very delicate matter, and if you don't handle it carefully, you're gonna screw it up," she scolded again.

Maya came over to the counter to set down a batch of cookies. "Chase hasn't been getting very much sleep lately... You're gonna have to excuse him for being so grumpy, Granny."

"You stay out of this!" Chase shot back at her, enraged.

"I was only trying to help... You don't need to get all snippy with me, Chase."

Kathy was putting away the dishes before she turned to Chase and said, "Maya's right. You _have_ been a little on edge lately, Chase..."

Yolanda started to mice a few cucumbers. "If he's not getting enough sleep at the Inn, then he should start going home to sleep. That's all there is to it."

Chase gave her a slightly surprised, baffled look.

As if to read his mind telepathically, she retorted with, "Yeah, that's right; I know you've been sleeping here at the Inn - so ya better get back ta setting your priorities straight, ya hear?"

_Oh, crap. She knew?_

Chase just slipped his gaze away from her, hoping to mentally escape from her.

"Oh, Granny," Maya said. "He can't help it. He's in love."

_Love?_

_What in the-?_

"... I'm in what?" Chase returned. He stood there. A look of sure boredom was pasted on his face.

_What the hell was she going on about?_

Yolanda became interested. "Love, eh? Is this true, young man?"

The expression on Chase's face only dulled more. "I hardly even know what she's talking about..."

"See?" Maya persisted. "You said _'hardly'_ know. So obviously you have to somewhat know what I'm talking about, right?"

Chase merely crossed his arms. "Hmm... You're getting more and more clever each day, Maya...," he said sarcastically.

"Huh? Really? I am?" Maya's eyes lit up. "You truly think so?"

He gave another boring stare.

Yolanda started to laugh. "Ahahahaha!" She was easily amused by how humerous Maya and Chase's relationship was. "Well, I'll be in the other room! Tell me if anything goes wrong, alright?" She laughed again. In agreement, Maya cried, "Okay, Granny!" as she walked out of the room.

It became very quiet. Maya went back to doing whatever she was doing, and Chase didn't really know what Kathy was doing... He hadn't bothered to look at her. He didn't even know if she was still in the room. Regardless, he returned to cooking, stirring the soup consecutively, with every now and then to give a sideways glance at Kathy, who had just now left the room. He then glanced at Maya, finding her to be on the opposite end of the kitchen. She had her mouth all wide and agape, about ready to shove a huge muffin into her mouth. When she noticed Chase was staring at her, however, she turned to him with a bright red face and a forced smile, waving awkwardly at him. They exchanged glances for a while.

_Idiot._

He looked back to his soup. He dished some of it out with a spoon and let it fall from the spoon. He repeated this about seven times. Then he at last broke the awkward tension with, "... How much do you know?"

The question seemed extremely out of the blue to Maya. "Know?" She asked. "About what?"

He stirred the soup very slowly, although it didn't need stirred in the slightest. His cheeks were starting to turn a pink. "You know..."

"... I do?"

_How could she not know? They just got done talking about it, didn't they...?_

_Whatever. He'll just tell her... Even though it made his heart thump like mad..._

"A-About me having a crush on someone..."

He became redder.

Maya cocked her head to the side. It seemed unclear to her at first, but she finally managed to understand what Chase was talking about. And when she finally did, she used it as a chance to tease him.

"Oh, I get it now," she toyed with him. "You're scared that I might tell someone about your little crush, is that it?"

Chase's stirring pace quickened. "What? I-I'm not scared. I just want to know how much you know about it, that's all." He tried not to look at her. He knew that if he did, he would lose his cool completely. He never worried about Maya knowing much before, so why was it all of the sudden that he was so scared if she did now?

Maya put her hands to her hips. "Hmm... Well, let's see... I know enough to humiliate you about it."

_Yup, she was definitely controlling this conversation, and she couldn't be any more proud of herself._

Chase's eyes widened.

_Oh crap. Oh crap, crap, crap. Did she seriously know?_

"But if you cook for me for an entire week, I won't tell anyone about it. How does that sound?"

"What? I'm not doing that!" Chase yelled.

"Suit yourself." Maya said, deciding to end the conversation by now walking away. "Well, I'm off to go tell someone right now," she teased again. She was sure he was going to come running after her as soon as she left. The thought humored her so much that she almost felt like giggling on the spot.

Thus commenced the panic. Chase had done just what Maya had expect him to: he ran after her, exclaiming, "N-No! Maya! Wait!" He reached her shortly after, wanting to die right then and there because he knew his face must have been a beating red at that moment.

Maya turned. A playful grin was on her face. "Yes? You have something to say, Chase?"

Chase glared at her. "Okay. Fine. I'll... I'll cook for you, okay? But you have to promise not to tell anyone, alright?"

"Well... I don't know..." Her grin widened. "Will you hug me too?"

"What? No."

"Then I guess I'll just go tell someone now..."

"Isn't cooking enough? Why do I have to hug you too?"

"Because if you don't, I'll tell someone. And you don't want that to happen, do you...?"

_Dear goddess... Why?_

_This crush... Has really been playing a burden on him..._

He felt his eyebrow twitch before he slowly and unwillingly began to pull Maya into an unsteady embrace.

_Damn it all._

Maya hugged him back. "Now you have to be my friend, too."

"... You're really starting to push it...," Chase mumbled.

"Come on. Say it. Say you wanna be my friend."

"Never."

"Do you want me to tell someone about you know whaty?"

_Goddess..._

Chase sighed. "... I want to be your friend, Maya..."

"Good boy!" Maya patted him on the head.

Chase turned from her, sounding like he was grumbling something before he left her alone, going back into the kitchen.

_And it didn't really occur to Maya until now... But..._

_Chase seriously had a crush on someone? She had only toyed with him just to toy with him, but she had never imagined that he would take it seriously... And since he did... Did that truly, honestly mean he had a legitimate crush on someone? If so, Maya wondered who..._

She put a finger to her lip as she gazed upwards, tangled in her thoughts.

* * *

**So whatcha guys think? Every and all reviews are greatly appreciated. ^-^**

**Oh yeah, and now I'm curious... Should I change this story's rating back to M? I mean... Seriously. I _did_ drop an F bomb in the first chapter, I just now realized...**

**Ta ta for now! And I'm sorry again for such a late update... Please don't hate me. ;_;**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, I'm going to stop embarrassing myself. From now on, every time I post a late chapter, just assume that I am very, very, tremendously sorry for the inconvenience. You have my sincerest apologies.**

*****Read this important shit, dude (you know you want to): Remember how in the last chapter, we learned that Gill had a fiancee and that her name was Molly? Well, I decided I wanted to change that. No, don't worry, Gill _still_ has a fiancee - it's just that it's no longer Molly, see? It's Luna now. I have my reasons - reasons in which I forbid to tell the details of. And in case you're wondering - why, yes, I _did_ change the name from Molly to Luna in the last chapter, so there's no need to go back and look, m-kay?*****

**Chase: Is that even allowed? I mean... Are you sure you can even do that...? Wait. Gill has a fiancee?**

**Me: *pushes Chase away* OF COURSE it's allowed! ^-^; It's not like I'm changing anything drastic. Right, Mr. Gilligan?**

**Gill: *reading book* Yeah, sure... Hold on. Wait. That's not my name. T-T;**

* * *

_Chapter Four_

There was no backing down now. Chase had fought all-too-hard to surrender so easily. He nearly chickened out not only once, not only twice, not even only three times, but four times. He'd be damned if he turned around now.

For the past week, Maya had been making him do all the cooking for her. She made him cook her three meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And if that wasn't enough, sometimes she would even have him personally feed her himself (literally, with a fork and all.) She certainly had him wrapped around her finger, eating not only his food, but pretty much his entire soul, too. He would come home utterly exhausted, not because of a hard day's work, but simply because of Maya alone. The deal he made with her was undoubtedly taking its toll, that was for sure.

He wasn't entirely sure _why_ he was doing this. Yet, somehow, here he was, standing in front of the mayor's house, holding a bowl of tomato soup out to the all-too-perfect Gill, hoping that as if in some way, just maybe, he'll accept it.

"I-It's for you," Chase meekly said, looking flushed with a head hanging low. He probably looked like a damn imbecile, especially since he had learned the precise hours in which Gill had gotten off of work, and had used this bit of knowledge just to meet with him today. He was actually pretty lucky that Gill worked day-shift and Chase worked, well, relatively close to night-shift. It was unfortunate, however, that he barely even knew Gill well enough to be learning of such business, let alone trying to give gifts to him. Now he probably looked more like a stalker than he did an imbecile, and Chase didn't really know if that was an improvement.

But to his absolute astonishment, though, Gill had surprisingly taken the soup, and, gazing down at it, said, "Did you make this for me?"

_Oh, crap._ Chase couldn't tell him that he actually made that soup for him. If he did, then it would just seem... _Weird._ Wouldn't it?

"Uh, n-no. A friend of mine told me to give it to you, so I'm just here to deliver it," Chase lied.

Strangely, Gill seemed to be buying it. "Oh? What's her name? I might know her."

"N-Name? Uhh... H-Her name is..."

_Damn it._ He couldn't think of a name. He wanted to say any old name, but what if the name sounded _too_ ordinary? Or what if... It sounded too original?

But... As Chase was dwelling on that, Gill had already moved on and decided for him, knocking him out of his train of thought:

"Chase, isn't it?"

"Y-Yeah..." Chase answered absentmindedly. Then he realized what Gill had truly said. With his eyes growing wide, he perked up to him at once. "Huh? Wait. What? Th-That's my name!"

"Oh, really?" Gill asked, not looking the least bit alarmed despite his way of manner. He stared blankly. "What a coincidence. A girl with the same name has a crush on me, so I just figured that maybe it'd be her."

"That's impossible. Chase is a guy's name, so there's no way..."

Then it dawned on him. Gill was actually talking about _him_, not some girl. Chase was almost positively certain that he couldn't possibly look or sound any more like a fool, but Gill had just proven him wrong, hadn't he? Goddess, he was such an idiot...

Gill, the controlling bastard, just continued to toy around, having his way with amusement, although not even the faintest smile crossed his features. "Oh well. I guess I was wrong. My mistake... Whomever she is, send her my thanks, will you?" He began walking inside, taking heed to close the door.

But Chase stopped the door from closing midway. "W-Wait!" He shouted, barging in without restraint. "H-How did you know my name?" If Chase remembered correctly, he didn't recall having given Gill his name, so there was no way in hell Gill should know about it. Unless... He happened to have asked someone else?

Gill stopped, neglecting to turn to face him. "What are you saying? Do you mean to say that that girl is you?"

"Huh? N-No!" Chase stammered, but that probably didn't sound too assuring, did it? He paused, his eyes drifting away in embarrassment. "Well, not exactly..." He was partway right, wasn't he? Surely, Chase wasn't a girl, but... But his name _was,_ indeed, Chase, after all. There was no mistaking it.

"Not exactly?" Gill questioned.

By now, Chase was red all over. He struggled to deal with it. "L-Listen, just tell me how it tastes, alright? My friend really wants to know, and... And I'm not leaving until you do."

Having finally closed the door, Gill smiled. He set the soup down on a nearby table. "I've heard rumors about you," he said as-a-matter-of-factly. "The people around town say you're a rather cold and distant person. If that's true, then you having a friend seems a bit strange, doesn't it?" He looked over to observe Chase's eyes widening again, studying just _how_ he could catch him further off guard. He dipped a finger into the soup and withdrew it, bringing the sample up to his lips to taste it with his tongue. He considered the flavor for a second. "What's even stranger is that this soup tastes just the same as the one you gave me at the Inn." He directed his gaze to study Chase once more. Needless to say, Chase couldn't get any redder, and that had Gill feeling all the more in control.

Chase became pretty defenseless. "S-So what? Your point?" He started to think that he shouldn't have even came here at all. He knew this would happen. He _knew_ he would come here and feel humiliated all over again. He _knew_ he shouldn't even be dealing with people like that: the kind that makes your heart throb so much, it's unbearable. Gill was simply too much to handle.

Gill came close to him, shortening the distance between the two. It caused Chase to step back further and further until his back hit the wall, trapping him. There was definitely no where to turn to now. Gill had him cornered and now he was gazing at Gill with a panic-stricken look in his eyes. Softly, Gill brushed his lips against his cheek as he trailed his hand down along his stomach, meeting just above his hips. Even more softly, he whispered, "Don't play dumb with me. It's not wise."

Chase gasped, bashfully looking away. "D-Don't..." Damn it, he probably sounded just like a little bitch, but there was no way in hell he was going to let Gill take the best of him.

Gill smiled, taking notice to his building frustration. "Go on. Out with it."

"O-Out with what?" Chase asked, clueless.

"Admit that you like me," Gill ordered.

"What? I-I don't like you!"

Biting his ear gently, Gill proceeded to run his hand down into Chase's pants, stopping right before he could progress much further. He purposely avoided doing what both had in mind, teasing with Chase ever more. He breathed hoarsely into his ear, causing him to flinch. "We could do this all day..."

Chase grasped Gill's shirt tightly, blushing impossibly more. "S-Stop it..."

Gill's smile grew larger. "You're cute."

"N-No I'm not..."

Suddenly and without warning, Gill backed up. He walked back over to the table he was standing next to not too long ago. "So, do you plan on opening your own restaurant?" He asked, changing the subject. "Is that why you're studying culinary arts so attentively?" Skillfully, he acted as though nothing had previously happened, dipping his finger back into the soup casually again, licking the red liquid off his finger. _Again._

Chase stiffened, painfully watching him as he did this._ Wasn't he just about to...? Wait. Why did he stop? Not that Chase was complaining, he wanted him to stop, he just... He just... Wasn't sure why..._ "I-I'm not," Chase began to answer, trying to deviate from the pressuring thought that was playing inside his head, "I'm not... Exactly sure what I want just yet."

"I see..."

_Okay, maybe that was a lie - maybe Chase 'did' want Gill to do a little bit more, but...-_

What sounded like a knock came from the general area of a window. Chase noticed this immediately and remarked, "What was that?" as he brought his eyes to focus on the window. There, he saw a pink-haired girl with an angered face, knocking violently on the glass. "I think somebody's knocking on the window."

Gill sharply drew the curtains over the window. "No there's not." In response to that, Chase grew confused. He didn't know why Gill would try to hide the girl from him. Regardless, if he really _was_ trying to hide something, he sounded pretty composed.

Gill framed his own back to the wall, crossing his arms. A bored-like expression took form on his face. Once again, he changed the subject: "You have a long way to go before you can open up your own restaurant, anyway. Your soup's good, but it's not nearly as good as Yolanda's." And once again, he had manipulated the flow of the conversation, just like that.

Chase, unfortunately, was too blind to notice. "Huh? I-I know that!" He snapped. "If I didn't, don't you think I wouldn't let Yolanda tutor me? I don't need _you_ to tell me that!" He whipped his head to the side, crossing his arms, like Gill. "Besides! That's not what you said at the Inn!" There he went sounding like a kid again...

"What I said at the Inn was only intended to make you feel better about yourself," Gill said, most likely sounding too harsh.

"S-So what?" Braced Chase. "You're saying that you don't care about me, is that it?"

"If I didn't care, I wouldn't have lied about it. If I would have told you the truth, you'd get upset about it - just like you are now."

"That hardly makes any sense! If you're so worried about upsetting me, then why the hell are you doing now?"

"So I can help you."

"Help me how?"

"There's going to be a cooking festival in town in just a short number of days. If you enter it and win, I'll give you another tip."

"Tip?" Chase blushed. "Y-You mean..."

_Was this "tip" thing going to be an "all-the-time" thing?_

An abrupt voice became heard: "FINALLY!" Both Gill and Chase turned their heads to see Luna at the top of a flight of steps, standing there with her hands on her hips as if she had been waiting there for a while now. It was the same pink-haired girl Chase saw outside the window, only this time... She looked a tad bit different: leaves were found knotted in her curly pigtails and her yellow lollita dress was apparently ruffled. She marched down the steps angrily, stomping on each and every last step with her fists clenched. When she reached Gill, she halted, shouting, "You have NO idea what I had to DO to get in here!"

Gill stared at her dryly. "... Did you climb a tree and crawl through the upstairs window?"

Seemingly surprised, she quieted. She continued to stare at him with the same angry-looking face. "... I might've," she somewhat admitted, turning from him.

Gill reached out to pick a dried-up leaf from her hair. "Sweetie," he soothed, "There are leaves everywhere in your hair."

_'Sweetie?'_ Chase thought.

"I-I don't care!" She flailed her arms wildly, flapping them up and down with balled fists. "I called you over fifty-thousand times earlier! Why didn't you pick up the phone!"

"I must have been asleep. I didn't hear the phone ringing."

"Oh, you didn't, did you?" She eyed Gill suspiciously and then looked over to find Chase. "And who's this?" She sternly put her hands to her hips.

"An admirer."

"A what?" Chase questioned.

"An admirer?" Luna followed, bored-faced. "What does _that_ mean?"

"It means he's a-" Gill began, but was almost instantly interrupted by Chase, exclaiming, "Alright! I'll do it!" Gill lifted his head in question and Luna persisted her boring gaze. "Eh? Do what?" She asked.

All eyes were on Chase as he slowly backed up, slowly and horridly coming to realize just what he had blurted out. _Do what? _His back hit the wall. _The contest?_ "I-I'll enter the stupid contest, if that's what you want..." He said, red-faced. "Now, if you'll excuse me..." He made his way over to the door, turning the knob to open the door, but only to find that the door wouldn't open. _What the... Why the hell not? Oh, goddess. That was it. He was going to be trapped here... Forever._

Luckily, Gill came to his aid. "Need help?" He said. He turned a certain lock on the door. "The door was locked."

Chase reddened for about the twentieth time that day. "I-I know how to open a damn door. I don't need you to patronize me." And with that, he opened the door and walked out. _Since when did Gill lock the door, anyway?_

Gill gripped his own chin. "Huh. Interesting..."

"What's interesting?" Asked Luna.

"Nothing."

"... Did you say something to him?"

Gill smiled. "I might've."

Luna glared at him. _Why did he have to keep secrets from her?_

Chase had no idea what Gill's motives were... He didn't know _why_ he wanted him to enter the contest... And Chase honestly was sure why he, himself, was entering it, but maybe it was just to solely prove that he was a better cook than what Gill made him out to be.

Yeah, maybe that was it. It's not like he really wanted a kiss... That was ridiculous. And of course he doesn't truthfully _like_ him; just what the hell was he thinking?

But, somehow... Chase was finding it hard to convince himself. They hardly knew each other, and yet... He was already feeling this way? No, that was impossible.

_... Why did he have to keep secrets from him?_


End file.
